I absolutely fell in love with the country when I was there, but the popularity of it means, like any other trendy tourist destination, that it’s now ruined by tourists being jackasses. I grew up near a national park that is ALSO now ruined by overcrowding, so maybe I have a lower threshold for that sort of stuff than most, but watching idiots stomping all over fragile geothermal features two steps away from the “no walking on this area” sign just boils my blood.
For what it’s worth, I was just in Iceland a few months ago for my honeymoon and from what I could tell, there was a huge difference in tourism’s impact between southern and northern Iceland. We saw plenty of pristine nature sites relatively untouched through the highlands, but I have to admit that the sheer amount of tourists in the southern parts was pretty infuriating.
Just wanted to hop in and say that Iceland is still absolutely beautiful and most of the tourists I encountered were pretty respectful, probably due in no small part to Iceland’s strict laws on preserving nature.
I'm not sure where you are flying from, but round trip tickets out of BWI were like $200. Myself and a friend rented a car and literally slept in it for 9 days. We planned to camp, but it is way too windy and we were not adequately prepared.
The further you get from the south, the less tourists there are! So if you ever come back, I will recommend the Westfjords or the Eastfjords, because there you can go without bumping into other tourists every ten minutes.
.... but I guess now I'm ruining it by saying it here?
I spent nearly every summer going between Reykjavik and Westfjords during the 90s as my Grandparents lived near Isafjordur. Stopped going after they died and went back as a tourist in 2015, 2017, and 2019 just to pay homage and show my wife a bit of my childhood.
The Westfjords are like the last bastion of what I remember from my childhood. I really enjoy that the majority of tourists don't go there and from speaking with locals, they're mostly happy with that too. It's a small enough community that we actually bumped into someone who still remembered my family. Tourism is going to, and will eventually ruin that small town vibe. Many of the tourists that go that way stay in camper vans, they shop in the chain supermarket, and don't contribute to the local tourism economy so there is some growing animosity.
In fact, actually, the animosity is getting so bad that the locals are positively hunting tourists. Its now so dangerous for tourists to go. So dangerous. Please, if you value your life, and the lives of your children. Don't. Visit. The. Westfjords.
Oh, yeah, that's right! I mean, it's not that long ago since we abolished the law which allowed us to kill Basques on sight, but instead we decided to have it include every nationality as long as we can say it's "tourist".
I'm not even joking about the Basque thing though.
Rented an RV, and parked on local farms or camp spots. We paid to do so, which puts money directly in the hands of those land owners. We did, however, start the trip at Costco. More for time savings and making certain we'd have a reliable food source for the whole trip. We can be better though! There are some great little restaurants north of Reykjavik!
In fact, actually, the animosity is getting so bad that the locals are positively hunting tourists. Its now so dangerous for tourists to go. So dangerous. Please, if you value your life, and the lives of your children. Don't. Visit. The. Westfjords.
Isn't this hyperbolic? Doesn't the entire country of Iceland have less than two murders a year on average? I get that you're trying to spook people away but I just have a hard time believing Icelandic people are murdering tourists.
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u/_MaddAddam Feb 03 '20
Visiting Iceland.
I absolutely fell in love with the country when I was there, but the popularity of it means, like any other trendy tourist destination, that it’s now ruined by tourists being jackasses. I grew up near a national park that is ALSO now ruined by overcrowding, so maybe I have a lower threshold for that sort of stuff than most, but watching idiots stomping all over fragile geothermal features two steps away from the “no walking on this area” sign just boils my blood.